PhD Program Application Instructions

Welcome to our guide for applying to the PhD program. The application process provides you with the opportunity to fully present your past experiences, your current status, and your future plans as a doctoral student and social welfare scholar. The application materials are intended to give the members of the faculty a comprehensive picture of your qualifications for admission to the Social Welfare PhD Program.

Overview

Individuals are admitted to the program as first-year, full-time PhD students in autumn quarter only. The University of Washington does not accept transfer credits from other doctoral programs.

Please pay careful attention to (1) the application materials, requirements, and instructions, and to (2) the description of standards of behavior. To avoid following outdated guidelines, please be certain to use only current year application materials.

All application materials must be uploaded by DECEMBER 3rd. We cannot evaluate an application until all application materials are submitted.

Contact Us

All inquiries about the program and application should be addressed to PhD Program Assistant Director Chanira Reang Sperry at 206-685-1680 or creang@uw.edu.

FAQ

Eligibility

Annual admission of new students into the Social Welfare PhD Program is limited, and the applicant pool tends to be quite competitive. Applicants who are selected for admission are those who have completed a Master's Degree in Social Work or a related field and whose scholastic achievement, previous experience, and aptitude for social welfare research and scholarship indicate the greatest promise for achieving the objectives of the program. Although an MSW is not required for admission, the Council on Social Work Education states the following: "Faculty who teach social work practice courses have a master's degree in social work from a CSWE-accredited program and at least two years of social work practice experience" in order to teach foundation practice courses in accredited programs (EPAS 3.3). Thus, an MSW can be beneficial when doctoral graduates seek jobs in schools of social work. An effort is made to maintain a balance among the students that reflects a range of interests in social work and social welfare areas of research.

In general, properly qualified students who are graduates of the University of Washington or of other colleges or universities of recognized rank are eligible to apply to the University of Washington Graduate School.

Program Values: Diversity & Social Justice

The PhD Program recognizes the contribution to the intellectual and social enrichment of the program by students with diverse backgrounds. One area to address in the research and scholarship statement is information concerning personal history, family background, work experiences, and influences on intellectual development. This information should include cultural and educational opportunities (or lack thereof), social, economic, or physical advantages and/or disadvantages that you have experienced, and the ways in which these experiences have affected your life and decisions concerning social welfare research as a career goal. Include special interests and abilities, career plans, and future goals. Please describe life and work experiences in ethnic or sexual minority communities wherever appropriate in the application materials.

Another area to address in the statement and to ask the individuals writing your letters of reference to comment upon concerns social justice issues. Describe how your scholarship career goals and research objectives are informed by your vision of social justice. See the School Mission Statement and our PhD Social Justice web page for information about the school/program commitment to and goals for furthering for social justice.

Reasonable Accommodation

The School of Social Work meets the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements for accessibility. Our application materials can be made available in alternative formats.

The University of Washington reaffirms its policy of equal opportunity regardless of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, or status as a disabled veteran or Vietnam era veteran in accordance with University policy and applicable federal and state statutes and regulations. The University of Washington is committed to providing access and reasonable accommodation in its services, programs, activities, education, and employment for individuals with disabilities. To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the School at 206-543-5676 or the Disability Services Office at: 206.543.6450/V, 206.543.6452/TTY, 206.685.7264 (FAX), e-mail at dso@uw.edu.

Decision-making process

Faculty members on the PhD Steering Committee make admissions decisions on the basis of the following: aptitude for social welfare research and scholarship as shown by articulation of social welfare research area(s) of concern to applicant and capacity to undertake such training and research, letters of reference, professional experience, commitment to diversity and social justice, institutional resources available to support the applicant's research, scholastic achievement, and scores on the Graduate Record Examination.

All forms must be downloaded, completed, and uploaded through the Graduate School online application. All files should be named with the following format: your lastname-initials-form name (e.g. lastname-ii-sswadmissionsform, lastname-ii-Univ-X-transcript). Place your last name and first initial on every page of all documents.

If the online system rejects your file, please try the following:

If the file is smaller than 1mb, use a different Browser.

Tell your scanner to scan papers as documents instead of images.

Scan in black and white.

Have your scanner save the file as a PDF.

Scan each document as a separate file.

​If you have tried all of the suggestions above and you are still unable to upload your document, please send an e-mail to sswphdpr@uw.edu

Applicants fill out the GPA Worksheet. Two separate GPAs are calculated: undergraduate and master's degrees. If one of your schools uses a narrative transcript format, indicate that in the appropriate place on the form. Follow the directions on the GPA Worksheet.

Upload a full resume that provides your relevant educational and employment history including the employer agency and address, your job title, and your dates of employment. If there is substantial discontinuity in your employment experience, please explain on a separate page attached to the resume. The resume should also list all scholastic or related honors (with dates received), significant volunteer activities, membership in professional organizations, and all published work. In addition, include theses, papers presented at conferences, and other professional writings, such as institutional manuals.

The research and scholarship statement provides an opportunity for you to give your assessment of yourself as a suitable candidate for admission to the Social Welfare PhD Program. Since the program emphasizes both research and teaching, we are particularly interested to know your views about research in social welfare and about yourself in the role of researcher and scholar educator. Please be as specific as possible in answering the questions from the PhD Admissions Instructions document located on the right hand side of this page. Use no more than five (5) double-spaced typewritten pages. Place your last name and first initial on every page of all documents.

Submit one example of your scholarly writing that provides evidence of your capacity to think analytically and critically, and to express yourself clearly and concisely, and that shows your readiness to undertake doctoral level work that reflects a concern with the advancement of social justice. If you submit a co-authored article, please select one for which you had major writing responsibility and indicate in an attached note the parts of the sample that reflect your input and work. The following are examples of appropriate submissions of scholarly writing:

Copies of an unofficial transcripts from each undergraduate and graduate institution attended must be submitted online as pdfs. (If you are admitted to the program and decide to accept the offer, you will then be required to provide official transcripts for the Graduate School of your master's degree institution.)

If you are enrolled in a graduate program at the time you submit your application, you must send updated transcripts or grade reports for computation of your grade point average upon completion of the degree.

When you submit your application to the Graduate School, you will at that time identify at least three individuals (and their email addresses) who can provide letters of reference; four is the recommended number of letters and five is the maximum. The Graduate School system will then automatically send each person a notification of request for reference with individualized URLs for response. Those providing references can quickly and easily submit online in any of several formats.

At least two of the persons writing the references, should be academics or persons who can evaluate your capacity to perform independent scholarly study.

The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 permits admitted students to review all pertinent documents in their records, including letters of reference. When you submit your list of names to the Graduate School, you will be required to indicate whether you waive that right.

Test scores of the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) are required by the University of Washington Graduate School as part of the application process. If you have not taken this examination within the past five years or you would like to retake the exam in an effort to increase your scores, you should arrange to take it before November.

The GRE's Aptitude Test measures general scholastic ability for the graduate level. The Aptitude test has three sections: Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical (written essay). After finishing the exam, you can request immediate feedback on your test scores.

Request that the GRE results be sent to the University of Washington. Instructions are included in the Graduate School online application process.
School Code/Departmental Code: 4854
The GRE website (http://www.gre.org ) contains complete information on testing, a downloadable registration bulletin, and test site schedules.

A limited number of GRE fee waivers are available for seniors and non-enrolled college graduates who meet eligibility requirements. Fee waivers may be used for one General Test or one Subject Test. To apply for a GRE fee waiver contact the financial aid office of your previous college/university.

For those students who have been out of school for some time, or who are unfamiliar with the GRE, we strongly advise a preparatory course or workshop. For example, the University of Washington Women's Center offers a GRE preparation course in the Life Long Learning Program.

Students entering the PhD program must have successfully completed an introductory undergraduate level statistics course within the last five years. This requirement refers to courses that identify the learning of statistical theory and statistical methodologies as their main purpose and substantive content, as opposed to courses that might include some infusion of selected content on statistical methods. It is not necessary to have already met this prerequisite to apply to the program. The prerequisite can be satisfied any time prior to entering the University. [See GPA worksheet for indicating fulfillment.]

The School of Social Work advises international applicants to submit the application to the Graduate School well before the due date because of the time required for processing international applications. Applications must be completed online (https://www.grad.washington.edu/applForAdmiss/).

An international student is anyone who IS NOT a US citizen or does not hold a US Permanent Resident Visa (i.e., "Green Card or Immigrant"). Individuals who hold a US visa, such as F-1 students, exchange visitors, or any other non-immigrant classifications are considered international applicants. International applicants must use the Graduate School website to determine eligibility for applying to the University of Washington and the School of Social Work PhD Program in particular.

Special Required Materials for International Applicants

TOEFL score report: Request Educational Testing Service, PO Box 6151, Princeton, NJ 08541-6151, to forward your report using the institution code #4854. Score reports more than two years old (from the test date) are not valid. (See Graduate School website for instructions and exceptions.)

University of Washington Statement of Financial Ability form. The form is available online to individuals who have successfully submitted an application to the Graduate School via the website.

Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)

A satisfactory command of the English language is required for admission to the University of Washington Graduate School. Applicants who are not citizens of the United States on the date of admission and whose native language is other than English must meet the following terms and conditions. The TOEFL (or MLT) is required unless one of the specific exceptions listed in the Graduate School Memo 8 is met. Test scores must be less than 2 years old from the test date, and no waivers of this English competency requirement may be given. A minimum score of 6.5 (IELTS), 80 (TOEFLiBT), 500 (TOEFL), 237 (TOEFLC), or 90 (MLT) is required for application and admission to the School of Social Work PhD Program in Social Welfare.

Test of Spoken English (TSE)

The Graduate School requires that students achieve a score of at least 55 on the TSE (alternates: 26 on speaking portion of TOEFL8iBT, 7.0 on speaking portion of IELTS, 230 on SPEAK test at UW) before being allowed to teach. The School of Social Work expects most students to be engaged in a teaching assistantship at some time during doctoral studies; therefore, we require all incoming international students to take this test before or during their first year in the program.

Financial Requirements

The US State Department of Justice and US Immigration and Naturalization Service mandate all schools to verify certification of adequate financial support from each international student. See the Graduate School website for the estimated the total cost of study. When the full application is submitted, all international applicants must fill out and submit the University of Washington Statement of Financial Ability form.

Graduate appointments awarded by degree programs are considered authorized employment. The School of Social Work works with students to ensure financial support in the form of 9-month research or teaching appointments or fellowships from within the University of Washington or from external sources for at least the first 3 years of the doctoral program. These appointments will satisfy the majority of the annual (12-month) financial requirement; applicants are required to provide proof that they have supplemental support.